Cloud Forest
The Cost Troll
As you step deeper into the Cloud Forest, a looming figure emerges from the mist—the Cost Troll. With a sly grin, he blocks your path and demands tribute. At first, the toll seems small, but with every step forward, his appetite grows. He insists on regular offerings, ever-increasing in size, reminding you that abundance in this forest never comes free.
True Cost of Cloud
While cloud offers flexibility, it can quickly become more expensive than expected. Rising storage, data transfer, and compute costs — especially for AI, analytics, and always-on workloads — often lead to bills that exceed on-premises infrastructure over time.
IDC and Canalys found cloud spending rising 20–30% annually, with higher increases for large data and AI workloads.